Archive for April 16th, 2012

Daniel Alfredsson’s future is clouded at best.
While Senators defenceman Erik Karlsson told reporters Sunday the Ottawa captain will be a “game time” decision for Game 3 Monday night at Scotiabank Place, NHL VP of safety Brendan Shanahan revealed this morning nobody is sure how long the 39-year-old.
Shanahan confirmed Alfredsson has a concussion. He missed five games earlier this year after a hit to the head by Rangers winger Wojtek Wolski.
“Usually when I deal with an injury report from a team doctor, most of these guys say what Ottawa said to me was this could be one day, it could be one year. You just don’t know,” Shanahan told WFAN New York Monday morning.
“We’ve had that situation happen before where we thought something was one day and it ends up being one month. We’ve had situations where a guy thought he was really bad and ends up feeling good. I don’t pretend to be a doctor. It’s very clear, at the very least, he’s not faking. Otherwise, he would have come back and played on the power play in the last game and played the rest of an important game.
“Whether he’s back tonight or whether he’s back later in the week, we just don’t know. I made the call, at the very least, knowing that whether it’s serious or not serious _ we just don’t know with head injuries _ there was an injury.”
Shanahan said the injury was the reason Hagelin got a three-game suspension and defenceman Matt Carkner only one game for sucker punching Brian Boyle
“The biggest difference between the two plays is there’s the head injury and concussion on one and there’s no injury on the other,” said Shanahan.
Shanahan said Hagelin’s hit was intentional.
“I do think Carl Hagelin’s a good kid,” said Shanahan. “He looks right at Daniel Alfredsson, skates at him and elbows him right in the head. And Alfredsson has to leave a big game, an important game, and has a concussion and doesn’t come back.”

About the authors

Bruce Garrioch is an award-winning journalist and a must-read in the hockey community. A Day-Oner at the Ottawa Sun, Garrioch is one of the top sports journalists in the country, covering the Senators since their return to the NHL in 1992-93. A 2009 winner of an Ontario Newspaper Award for his coverage of the Dany Heatley saga, Garrioch has a strong ability to break news and brings inside information with his Sunday NHL column, one of the most popular in the country. It is read by GMs, players and coaches who want the inside scoop. Garrioch has covered the 2008 Stanley Cup final for Sun Media, the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. Mainly, Garrioch has the pulse of the Ottawa Senators. If people want to know what's happening they turn to him to get the info on contracts, negotiations, signings, trades and, of course, games.

Don Brennan is a Day 1 employee of the Ottawa Sun. He has spent the majority of his 23 years as a sports reporter/columnist, covering the Senators since their return to the NHL in 1992, and prior to that writing about the Rough Riders, 67's and other sports. Brennan also wrote a Page 6 column in the Sun for nine months. A native of North Bay, Brennan moved to attend Centennial College in 1978. He remained in Toronto for a decade, working first as a freelancer, than an editor with the Toronto Sun. Brennan has lived in Ottawa full time ever since.

Don Brennan and Bruce Garrioch are Ottawa's all-star hockey writing duo, and will be regularly contributing to Off The Posts.

Their combined experience covering local, national and international hockey means they have the sources to get the inside information on the Senators and the NHL which might not be available to others.

Check back often for notes, quotes and commentary. They might even disagree with each other once in awhile.